LEGION BASEBALL: Kingston seeks first state title

The Kingston Post 387 baseball team opens competition Saturday in the State American Legion Championship Tournament.

Austin GaquinThe Patriot Ledger

SUDBURY – Three days removed from its District 10 championship victory, the Kingston American Legiopn baseball team will play Greenfield in the first round of the Legion State Tournament.

Kingston Post 387, which is seeking its first state title, and Greenfield Post 812 square off at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The entire eight-team, double-elimination tournament will be played at Feeley Field in Sudbury.

To advance to the state championship tourney, Kingston dethroned two-time defending state champion Barnstable Post 206 in the District 10 Finals. In the three-game championship series, Kingston made quick work of the reigning champs, winning two games to none.

“Barnstable was the one seed and the two-time defending state champion,” said Kingston head coach Bob Hurley. “But we knew it was possible. We played competitive baseball and we did it.”

Senior leadership has been a key to Kingston’s success all season. Seven players are in their final year of Legion baseball: Sam Ballerini, Josh O’Neill, Matt Cauchon, Bradley Chandler, Walker Smith, Sean Connor and Ryan O’Donnell.

Coach Hurley credits his team’s extended postseason run, in large part, to its strong veteran presence.

“All seven of them have been leaders from the get-go,” he praised, struggling to find the right words to say. “This team would not be the same without them.”

The true effect of Kingston’s seven senior players transcends the stat sheet. They maintained consistent offensive production throughout the season, but they also helped mold the team’s youngsters into better baseball players.

Kingston’s pitching staff, for instance, is inexperienced, but it didn’t show during the District 10 title run.

Will Gallagher, the team’s top pitcher and projected starter in Saturday’s game against Greenfield, is a sophomore at Silver Lake Regional High School.

Tommy Contos and Adam Gay, both of whom pitched in the deciding game of the District 10 championship series, are juniors in high school.

“Our top starters are typically some of the older guys on the team – freshman in college, seniors in high school,” said Hurley. “These guys are young, but pitching has been a strength of ours and I expect it to continue to be strong.”

With a solid balance offense and defense, and of experience and youth, Kingston got into a rhythm toward the end of the season.

But now, Post 387 enters unfamiliarity territory, having played none of the other seven teams in the state tournament this season.

Also, the game length shifts from seven innings to nine.

“None of that changes my strategy,” said Hurley. “We’re not going to over think and do things differently. We’ll start Will (Gallagher) and go from there.”

If Kingston just keeps playing the way it has been, Hurley likes his team’s chances.

“We’re a good team. We can hang with everybody. We win with pitching and defense, but we’re capable of scoring runs, too. We’re deep, we’re confident. If our pitchers are on, I like our chances.”

In other first-round games Saturday, District 5 winner Lowell will play District 4 champ Milford at 9:30 a.m. Upon that game’s conclusion, Newburyport, District 8 champ, and Taunton, District 9, will square off. District 6 winner Westwood plays tournament host Sudbury following the Kingston-Greenfield game.